Description
Object description
German Jewish civilian living in Berlin, Germany, 1919-1939. Emigrated to GB, 1939. Lived in Palestine/Israel and GB from 1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of family background. Recollections of life in Germany, 1920s & 1930s: Orthodox nature of beliefs; impact of Nazism on education; reaction of mother and father to Nazi regime; connection with Jewish groups EZRA and Bachad; father's Zionist connections; preparations for emigration; attending domestic science school; reaction to Nazi marches; emigration of brother's and sisters; witnessing destruction of Jewish property, Kristallnacht, 1938; sight of destroyed Reichstag and sign reading 'One Way to Palestine.'
REEL 2 Continues: successful emigration of 9 siblings pre war; escape of mother father and two remaining brothers during war. Recollections of life in GB, 1939-1947: arrival and accommodation at Jewish shelter; finding job with London family; meeting and marrying Arieh Handler, 1940; reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; obtaining job as Housemother to Avoncroft, Bachad Settlement, Bromsgrove; duties looking after 50/60 young Jewish refugees; question of whether Jewish refugees fostered privately lacked Orthodox religious support.
REEL 3 Continues: question of Orthodox religious support; return to London; air raids; father's fate in Auschwitz; mother's survival of war in Paris; mother's emigration to Palestine post-war; receiving news of Holocaust; story of how her mother was imprisoned in Cologne after father escaped to Paris; loss of her religious beliefs; Orthodox beliefs of son Gaby; artist friends who survived Holocaust. Recollections of life post-1945: visiting mother in Palestine, 1947; impressions of Palestine; Jewish/Arab and Jewish /British relations; decision to stay in Palestine.
REEL 4 Continues: celebrations at founding of State of Israel; Arab/Jewish relations after founding of Israel; impact of Holocaust on Jewish life in Israel; visiting Falasha Jews in Ethiopia; arrival of Ethiopian Jews in Israel; return to GB, 1956; army service of son, Gaby in Israel; deaths of three of her brothers in Israel; story of how three members of grandsons family killed in Kibbutz bus bombing, 2002; attitude towards state of Israeli/Palestinian relations today.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude towards state of Israeli/Palestinian relations today; knowledge of pressure group 'The 35s' and attempts to get Jews out of Soviet Union; visit to Russia to stay with relatives, the Kordonsky family.